Etch v.⁴

var. of ECHE v. Obs. To etch out, to eke out. See EKE v. 3.

1682.  D’Urfey, Butler’s Ghost, 73. And none like him had e’re the skill To etch and lengthen out a Bill.

c. 1698.  Locke, Cond. Underst. (1813), § 29. Terms … found in some learned writers, to which they had recourse to etch out their systems.